Curious if anyone has any experience with Optimus? Good or Bad. My wife bought me one last week and I just do not have any experience with this brand. Thinking about taking it in and trading for a Jet or MSR but figured I would ask around first.

I have an older Optimus Svea 123 stove that has been extremely reliable over the years, although it is considered a dinosaur by today's standards. One of my fishing buddies uses a Snow Peak Giga like WVBrookie mentioned, and it performs flawlessly. I also have an MSR Pocket Rocket that has been a reliable stove. Which Optimus stove did your wife get for you?

It's a great stove a good backpacking friend of mine owns one he says it has never let him down even on cold mornings and it has a very stable base unlike the Giga Power and the MSR Pocket Rocket. I gave up canister stoves long time ago I use a tin can with denatured alcohol there is nothing to fail and it weighs 0.4 o/z. The one important thing with any canister stove is to keep the butane warm on cold mornings, and keep them out of the wind.

I had a Gigapower stove but a friend has it now. I use a Trangia alcohol stove almost exclusively. In my opinion a canister stove is a canister stove. As long as the base and pot supports are reasonably stable, I say keep it and use it.

They were around when all these other "high faluting brands" were not even invented. They used to make stoves for the swedish army. Believe me, they were the best. Can't vouch for them nowadays though. Hopefully they are still good, I'm afraid they outsourced to you know where, like everyone else. They should still be decent though.

tennswede got that right! They made brass kerosene stoves used by mtn. climbers and Beduin before even 'white gas' was invented:-). Coleman [which most americans think is 'old'] is a 'newby' compared to them.
While about any of the canister stoves 'work', the newer [but bigger and heavier] flame heads allow better heat regulation [simmering is possible]. AND usually quieter.
Most canister mixes now contain propane in the butane mix and work better in severe cold [helps efficiency to insulate the base].
Can't think of a reason to 'trade' it for any other iteration. I've probably got 10 canister stoves and 6 white gas/multifuels [even a multifuel canister] and it's just a matter of size/bulk vs quietness usually as to which I use.
The 'jetboil' concept [seems everybody has 'their' version now] is a bulky pot-dependent system. OK for car camping use I guess, but ridicuously bulky in a pack.
If all the user does is heat water for freeze dried foods or oatmeal/ramen noodle 'cooking' you can get by with 90% alcohol stoves. Personally they're for dining room use under the fondue. Simply a poor return on weight /bulk vs BTU's . I like coffee in quantity and the capability to FRY wild meat, REAL food, etc. Hard to beat a canister stove for wkend 'stream trips' [light, compact and HOT].
You oughta enjoy your Optimus. If you buy one yourself, the built-in piezo lighter iterations are nice. Ghost

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The 'jetboil' concept [seems everybody has 'their' version now] is a bulky pot-dependent system. OK for car camping use I guess, but ridicuously bulky in a pack.
If all the user does is heat water for freeze dried foods or oatmeal/ramen noodle 'cooking' you can get by with 90% alcohol stoves. Personally they're for dining room use under the fondue. Simply a poor return on weight /bulk vs BTU's .....

I think the jetboil hoosier was referring to is the PCS, while you may be referring to the GCS. The PCS is more compact. The jetboils are handy if you are cooking dried foods or freezer bag foods, but beyond that I wouldn't recommend one.

In my opinion, all the stoves have their upsides and downsides. I find the canister stoves to be a good all around option, unless you are at high altitude (higher than anything in the smokies) or it is near 0 degrees.....although I have used my snowpeak gigapower stove when its pretty darn cold.